ios 26.1 using guided access with the volume buttons setting turned off now mutes videos.

Same. I hadn’t used Guided Access since upgrading to 26.1 until tonight, when I gave the phone to my youngest kid and she kept saying she couldn’t hear it any time she changed to a new video. The volume remained whatever I set it to as long as she was on the video it was playing when Guided Access was initiated, but as soon as she changed to a different video the volume went down to 0. The only solutions I’ve found are to either not use Guided Access at all or to allow volume changes while in Guided Access (which obviously somewhat defeats the point).

I’m 100% certain this behavior is unintentional and is a bug, as it was not documented anywhere in the iOS 26.1 release notes or anywhere else that I can find.

Apple Supports article for iOS 26: Lock iPad to one app with Guided Access - Apple Support

says there is the option to turn access to the volume buttons on or off.

The audio level in each video is likely initially set by its creator, rather than by the audio level set on the iPad.

When entering Guided Access: You may or may not want to allow the use of other features for control

Eg: like Accessibility Shortcut, Control Centre, Siri, or Vocal Shortcuts, etc.

As we are all Apple users, like yourself, in the community, Apple is unikely to read any of the posts in this discussion. If anyyone wants to send feedback to Apple, that feedback can let Apple know in which hardware models and software versions you want the volume to remain as set when viewing multiple videos. The more feedback Apple receives on an issue (or a bug), the more likely we will see an update that assists:

To provide feedback about an accessibility feature on an Apple product,

you can email the Accessibility team: accessibility@apple.com.

Same for me, GA on my

littles iPad and it now turns the volume down no matter what we do. I enable the volume button I raise it to a decent amount. I go back into disable the volume button go back into GA And the volume is dropped again. It’s becoming very annoying.

Don’t reply with canned or otherwise unhelpful responses like this. We’re all aware of how Guided Access works and how it’s supposed to work. Guided Access is partially broken as of iOS 26, and all you have to do is a modicum of research to verify it yourself.

Mine will do the opposite. On the iPhone the volume is usually low and if the another show comes after the one he was currently on, it will turn the volume all the way up. On my ipad it will turn the volume up as well but not all the way. Like a quarter of the way. I don’t know why it’s changing the set volume I had for it.

Thank you kindly for your reply, and your opinions. All the best :-)